Tongva plane crash
On 20 September 2015, a Newleaf Island Air Force Lockheed Martin C-130J-30 Super Hercules aircraft, registration AN973, crashed shortly after take-off from Pineview Air Force Base with 92 passengers and 6 crew members on board. All aboard survived the crash with only minor injuries. The crash site was located in the Tongva mountain trails region, several miles from Pineview, Cola Hills. Aircraft involved The aircraft involved in the accident was a Lockheed Martin C-130J-30 Super Hercules four-engine turboprop military transport aircraft, registration AN973. The aircraft was delivered new to the Newleaf Island Air Force on 12 July 2015 in a heritage livery, having first flown on 3 July. At the time of the accident, AN973 was painted into a heritage livery. This livery was an exact reproduction of the Newleaf Island Air Force's Second World War era "desert camo" livery. This livery was carried by over one hundred examples of the Curtis Commando transport aircraft, a type which the original Lockheed C-130 Hercules replaced. As part of the livery, AN973 also carried registration TN100, which was originally carried by a Commando. The livery was applied to AN973 in order to celebrate 70 years since the end of the war and 75 years since the introduction of the Commando; the aircraft was made the flagship of the NIAF Hercules fleet, regularly attending domestic and international air shows. The aircraft entered service at an air show on 15 July 2015, three days after delivery, and subsequently attended twenty air shows, flypasts and other aviation events in the two months leading up to the crash. Due to the aircraft's special status as a heritage liveried aircraft, it was not intended for active service. Indeed, the accident flight was the first time the aircraft had been used in active service, being drafted in as an emergency replacement for another C-130J-30 at Pineview Air Force Base, registration AN960, after it suffered a technical fault shortly before departure. Accident The aircraft began taxiing to the main runway at Pineview Air Force Base at 15:06 local time fully loaded, with 92 passengers and 6 crew on board. The 92 passengers were active servicemen and women in the 2nd Paratroopers Regiment being flown to the Mount Garrido Military Test Area, where they would parachute out of the aircraft as part of a paratrooping military drill. The aircraft was then to return to Pineview with just the six crew members on board. The aircraft was cleared for take-off at 15:13 and accelerated down the runway without any problems, lifting off after seventeen seconds. The landing gear was retracted and the aircraft climbed to an altitude of 1000 feet above mean sea level thirty seconds after take-off. Around 35 seconds after take-off, all four engines simultaneously shut down with no apparent input from the cockpit crew, with the throttle levers still set to full thrust. All control over the aircraft's roll and pitch was also lost after the engines failed due to the elevator and ailerons becoming jammed. Immediately after engine failure, the aircraft pitched down slightly and first briefly rolled to the left, before rolling to the right and maintaining this profile until impact. Attempts to lower the landing gear were unsuccessful, as the ram air turbine had not had time to fully deploy successfully. Due to the aircraft's jammed elevator, the Hercules lost altitude quickly and there was no time to return to Pineview or any other safe landing place. Using only their rudder, the pilots guided the aircraft into a relatively flat, clear valley area containing a dirt track. Fifteen seconds after engine failure, the right wing and fuselage struck a rocky ledge at the top of the valley; the aircraft continued to descend, with the belly of the aircraft impacting the dirt track relatively lightly. The momentum of the aircraft caused it to continue sliding downhill along the dirt track for a few seconds, coming to a halt after sliding off of the dirt track down an embankment, with the left wing becoming embedded in two trees. With the aircraft coming to a halt upright and in one piece, all aboard were able to evacuate the aircraft successfully using the front passenger door. There was no fire. Aftermath The aircraft was able to be quickly evacuated and emergency services. Despite the remote location, the first emergency services arrived at the scene within five minutes of the accident. Throughout the next twenty minutes, civilian emergency services were gradually replaced by military emergency services responding from Pineview Air Force Base. Military responders placed the location on lockdown and designated it a Zone of Military Importance, with a nearby road through the canyon being closed to all but military traffic. Twenty-three people, including the pilot and co-pilot, were taken to hospital with minor injuries following the accident. More people were treated at the scene, including a man who witnessed the crash who was treated for shock. The crash came just three days after a United States Air Force C-130J was forced to make an emergency landing at Leedstown Copperfield Airport in the Capital District after suffering a double engine failure. This, combined with the crash of AN973, caused the Newleaf Island Air Force to ground their entire Hercules fleet two hours after the accident, pending a formal investigation into both this crash and the Copperfield incident. Social media The crash was already trending on Twitter within thirty minutes, under the hashtag #HerculesCrash, thanks in part to a photo of the crash site taken within seconds of the plane coming to a halt. This photo was uploaded by user @ColinG52, real name Colin Gallowfield, within five minutes of the crash and was retweeted more than 100,000 times in the 24 hours following the accident, causing the crash to go viral worldwide. A video taken from the cockpit of the aircraft, released by investigators with the permission of the Newleaf Island Air Force, was later uploaded to YouTube within two hours of the crash by LBC News. The video appears to show the aircraft accelerating down the runway and then climbing, before the engines go silent and the aircraft begins to descend uncontrollably. The aircraft then appears to lightly strike a clifftop above a valley before crashing into the valley floor. The footage then cuts to an outside view of the aftermath of the crash. The video received 20 million views within 24 hours of the accident. Social media commentators stated that the response to the crash on social media was 'absolutely unprecedented' for a news story. Tens of thousands of people sent messages of support to the NIAF's official account, especially when news reports began to emerge of the 'heroic' actions of the flight crew in preventing a major tragedy. Many thousands of people also praised the structural integrity of the aircraft following the crash, with photos from the scene showing that the plane had suffered 'barely a scratch' despite the rough terrain. Investigation On 21 September, investigators confirmed that the main lead that they were currently following was that some kind of debris on the runway at Pineview Air Force Base had struck the wings, engines and flight control surfaces, causing them serious damage. This drew parallels to the shootdown of a Royal Air Force C-130J in 2005, which was struck by light anti-aircraft fire in the wings and subsequently crashed due to the damage, which was described as 'otherwise minor' by the accident inquiry. Gallery Video A video of the crash, filmed from the cockpit CCTV cameras, was released several hours after the crash and may be viewed below. Photos AN973 crash front.PNG|The crash scene as seen from the front on 21 September. AN973 crash rear.jpg|The crash scene as seen from the rear seconds after it occurred; this photo was retweeted more than 100,000 times on Twitter AN973.jpg|AN973 as seen at the Clearwater Airshow, its first public appearance, in July 2015